#2 lazy eye in the mirror (the author)

Imagine being given the task to take the sum of your life and all its experiences, and distill it to something much more digestible. If not an entire sentence, then maybe even just a handful of words meant to illustrate in brief what sort of human being you are. To some extent most of us in the modern realm have had to do a similar thing in the past with our resumes, called something commonly an introductory statement. Me, I've been in (and sometimes out) of the workforce for close to thirty years, and this is what I have for mine to compel the would-be hiring managers to consider looking at the rest of the PDF. Why not share it with the world, I suppose.

Administrative professional evolving towards a career emphasis in web development, search engine optimization, and e-commerce. Seeking a role where my professional experience and leadership skills will be an advantage to the growth of my employer and myself.

Sometimes it can be easy enough. I should probably update that as web development actually is my career now, but likely the reader gets the point of all this. There's other times too, professionally speaking, where you have to introduce yourself to the other people in the room you're in and offer up some personal tidbits. That took about half the time I've spent in the working world to not absolutely terrify me, spine-down, all the way down to my feet. I know the rules, now. For someone like me, the best thing to do is to hit the basics like skipping a flat stone over a calm river while being as cheerful and good-humored as possible. Not only does everyone like a person who can be both non-threatening and clever, it's just a lot more fun than a desperate attempt to stifle a panic attack.

And of course, there's all the various and usually optional bios you can hang on your social media profile on whatever social media network you use. There's a mini bio on here, for that matter, which I sort of like because it at once is about me, but then again not about me. People usually don't know what to do with them though and it's rare bordering on maybe never where anyone truly is able to communicate who they are in that kind of condensed way to the world, so most people don't bother, or it's just too many calories to burn an answer in our tired, harried brains. There's been so many times where I've seen out there some variation or another of that verbal shrug, I'm just me.

This is true for me, too. I am just me every bit as much as you are just you, whoever you are, out there. That much we know. Going back to the handful of words I abridged myself with in Post #1, they're not inaccurate. I'm an American who lives in the Midwest. Kansas City, to be exact. The Missouri side, to be even moreso. Urban, so that more or less tells you where I'm at and what sort of live I'm living. I'm liberal in thinking, so being in an area with lots of different people and stories is at once exciting and comfortable to me. Owing thanks to my gender and my stature and probably my age too I'm rarely in any situation in the environment I live and flourish in where I truly feel unsafe. My relative intact state these days backs that up. I'm generally healthy and suffer from no serious chronic diseases or maladies. I've never suffered any serious injuries, although I've come close plenty of times. I'm not really allergic to anything and I've never been to prison.

It's the last in that group, however, which is by far the most emblematic of who I am. I am a father of a very intelligent and incredibly beautiful ten year old daughter, and if the word "divorced" can be used as an adjective, it fits me perfectly. She will always define my life, for sure, but at this stage of her life (and mine), it's even more that way. It's a shared custody situation with my ex-wife who also lives in my city, on paper it's 50/50 but due to schedules and other things it usually ends up being more 70/30 on my side of things and I don't mind it one damn bit. Her Mom and I have a pretty solid working arrangement with the occasional hiccup here and there, although even that's been awhile. I come just short of calling her a friend of mine, but I really have no complaint with her. The marriage didn't work and we've come to terms with that, at this point, and how things work between us now is likely the best outcome considering our shared history.

Which, I probably won't get into any of that much. I think the reasons are simple enough. She happened to give me the best gift anyone has ever given me, our little girl, and I'll forever be grateful. One thing I'd like to make clear, and hopefully do better than I used to amidst my last journaling period, is that I want to protect people's privacy and be delicate with them. A thing I've been wanting to challenge myself with in my writing is to weave words about people that are in my life in a respectful way while also being as mindful as possible to not make it all too dull. The goal, then, is to write about the people in my life in a manner that befits how much I care about them. There's really no benefit, when it's all said and done, doing this any other way, heavens forbid being sensational and dragging people's names through the mud. It's tacky. I'm not at an age, anyway, where drama looks good anywhere near me. Personal information will mostly be sanitized with exceptions where consent for some reason is granted.

I promise you we'll have lots of fun. No, really.

Also, before I forget yet again, my name is Jay Ouderkirk. The next post will be the next rung of the ladder. As for the actual direction on the ladder we're heading in, let's find out.